HR: 1340h
AN: H43E-1677 [Abstracts]
TI: Assessment of a Near-Global 30-meter Resolution DEM Derived from the Publicly Available SRTM Data Set for Use in Orthorectification of Satellite SAR Imagery
AU: * McDonald, K C
EM: kyle.mcdonald@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Lab, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena,
CA 91109, United States
AU: Chapman, B
EM: bruce.chapman@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Lab, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena,
CA 91109, United States
AU: Podest, E
EM: erika.podest@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Lab, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena,
CA 91109, United States
AU: Jimenez, A
EM: alj2110@columbia.edu
AF: Jet Propulsion Lab, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena,
CA 91109, United States
AB:
The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) utilized an interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) flown
onboard the space shuttle Endeavour to obtain high resolution elevation data of Earth's
land surface. Virtually all land surface between +/- 60 degrees latitude was mapped. Regions within these
bounds contain some data gaps but this represents less than 0.2 % of the coverage. Standard publicly-available
data sets from SRTM include a 3 arc-second (~90 meter) resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with absolute
average global vertical accuracy of approximately 4 to 5 meters. A 1 arc-second (~30 meter) resolution DEM has
also been developed, but only the portion of the data set covering the United States is publicly available. The
finished version of these products has been edited for pixel-level errors and delineation of coastlines and water
bodies, although some data voids are still present. Utilizing such DEMs of appropriate resolution in a common
framework with satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data allows robust ortho-rectification and geo-referencing
of the SAR data sets.
We have derived a 1 arc-second resolution DEM over the entire domain of the SRTM coverage using a 3-
dimensional interpolation scheme applied to the 3 arc-second SRTM DEM. Development of this product involves
(1) translation of SRTM products into the WGS84 datum, (2) interpolation of the lower resolution DEMs to 1 arc-
second, and (3) assembly of the global-scale 1 arc-second DEM. We assess effectiveness of this interpolation
scheme through comparative statistical analysis of the 3 arc-second finished product, the 1 arc-second finished
product, and the 1 arc-second interpolated product over selected test regions within the USA where all products
are available. Comparisons are also made to standard GTOPO30 products for regions inside and outside of the
USA. Comparisons are presented for regions representative of gentle and complex terrain. Ortho-rectification of
SAR data such as those obtained from the Japanese Earth Resources Satellite (JERS) and ALOS PALSAR
allows for an accurate representation of these data, providing crucial information accounting for effects of
topography on geophysical retrievals.
This work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract to the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
DE: 0452 Instruments and techniques
DE: 0480 Remote sensing
DE: 1855 Remote sensing (1640)
DE: 1894 Instruments and techniques: modeling
DE: 9820 Techniques applicable in three or more fields
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting